By Eric Stock
BLOOMINGTON – There are new questions about the management firm that ran U.S. Cellular Coliseum for 10 years.
The city is conducting an audit of all accounts involving Central Illinois Arena Management, which ran the coliseum until this April when it’s contract expired. The city hired Iowa-based VenuWorks to take over the Coliseum.
Blogger Diane Benjamin has sued to gain access to CIAM’s records and based on a study of three years of coliseum’s concessions records that the city has released.
“I used the best knowledge I had based on those documents and the CIAM management contract to see if the city got paid what they are owed,” Benjamin said. “My calculations show that they didn’t.”
Benjamin claims the management company sold the city short about $447,000 in concession sales.
“Now I’m not saying it’s set in stone, because I’m sure that CIAM has other ways to calculating things, or things that they thought I did wrong,” Benjamin said. “Since I wrote the story last week I have not been contacted by them. They’ve not given my any other documents.”
Mayor Tari Renner has said previously the city’s contract with CIAM, signed before he became mayor, did not protect taxpayers. He declined to comment for the story.
City attorney Jeff Jurgens issued the following statement.
“Since the Coliseum transition began in March 2016, we have been actively undergoing an extensive audit and review of all accounts. That process is ongoing and until it is complete, it would be premature for the city to comment further. As an aside, it should be noted an audit of the Coliseum financials is completed every year as part of standard operations.”
Benjamin said she would like to see Illinois State Police launch an investigation.
Eric Stock can be reached at eric.stock@cumulus.com.
